Manchester United manager defends decision to scrap LGBTQ+ initiative
"The majority of the players believe in one thing, but they saw one guy alone and said 'let's be together,' Ruben Amorim said
By Gary Grimes
Ruben Amorim, manager of Manchester United, has spoken out in defense of the team’s recent decision not to don pro-LGBTQ+ jackets during a match.
The team had been planning to wear the Adidas-designed jackets as part of the Rainbow Laces campaign in which Stonewall calls on the Premier League to show support to queer fans and supporters. However plans were scrapped only hours before the match as one player, Noussair Mazraoui, did not feel comfortable wearing the jacket on religious grounds.
“It was a group decision as players, as it should be,” Amorim explained, as reported by the MailOnline. “There’s three difficult things to manage. On one side, it’s club values. There’s no doubt what this club believes and fights for. Then you have religion, which you have to respect. It’s our values to respect other opinions.”
“And the third thing is the group thing. ‘I won’t leave Nous alone, we’re a team’. The majority of the players believe in one thing, but they saw one guy alone and said ‘let’s be together’.
“It’s three things we have to manage and respect, and it’s a hard issue to address. I think we did it in a good way. We need to respect everything but we also to respect the religion of Nous and his culture.”
On the idea of the team wearing the jackets in the future, Amorim remained sceptical: “I don’t know if Nous is going to change his religion and his beliefs. We will address at the time if it comes, but it’s a really hard decision.”
“We are strongly committed to the principles of diversity and inclusion”
Following the incident, the football club issued a statement stating it “welcomes fans from all backgrounds, including members of the LGBTQ+ community.” It went on to clarify: “We are strongly committed to the principles of diversity and inclusion.”
“We demonstrate these principles through a range of activities, including support for our Rainbow Devils supporters’ club, and campaigns to celebrate our LGBTQ+ fans and combat all forms of discrimination.”
The Rainbow Devils, the club’s queer supporter group, also released a statement saying they “respect the right of this player to have his own views, whilst also feeling disappointed that he put the rest of the squad into a position where they felt that they couldn’t wear their jackets.”